The reason it took over a decade to make 'Deadpool' boils down to one major fear

Hollywood just didn't get Deadpool. 20th Century Fox It took over a decade, but "Deadpool" fans are finally getting the movie they deserve when the merc with a mouth hits theaters Valentine's Day weekend.

For six of those years, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick ("Zombieland") were on board trying to get the movie onto the big screen. Wernick says fans waited this long because it all boiled down to one hesitation with the film studio.

"You know, the reason it didn't get made for the six and a half years that we were involved in it was because of fear, the fear of it being an outlier. The fear of it being an R-rated Marvel superhero movie,"Paul Wernick told Tech Insider.

It's easy to see where Fox is coming from. There haven't been a lot of R-rated superhero movies. And of those that have been made, the highest-grossing film made just over $230 million worldwide. Compare that with the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time, 2012's PG-13 rated "The Avengers," which brought in over $1.5 BILLION.

Movie Opening weekend Worldwide gross Estimated production budget "Constantine" (2005) $29.8 million $230.9 million $100 million "Watchmen" (2009) $55.2 million $183 million $130 million "Sin City" (2005) $29 million $158 million $40 million "Blade II" (2002) $32.5 million $155 million $54 million "Blade" (1998) $17 million $131 million n/a "Blade: Trinity" (2004) $16.1 million $128.9 million $65 million "Judge Dredd" (1995) $12.3 million $113.5 million $90 million "Kick-Ass" (2010) $19.8 million $96.2 million $30 million

The highest-grossing opening weekend for an R-rated movie was $91.8 million for "The Matrix Reloaded" back in 2003.

"Hollywood is so motivated by following the trends versus setting their own," said Wernick. "It's why so few original movies get made is because there's the fear of, 'Well, if I make an original movie and it fails, I'll have nothing, no reference point to then point back to and go well I made this movie because this other movie succeeded.' And, it's why it took so so long for this movie to get made because it is an outlier. It is hard R. It is an adult antihero movie, and yet I really do believe it's going to be the reason this movie hopefully succeeds ... because of the fact that it is an outlier, it is an apple among oranges. It parodies the superhero genre in a genre that's become a genre unto itself and a genre that's oversaturated with movies — great movies — but movies that tell the same story."